All Fall Down
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Laxus just wants to take a shower at the Strauss house without any issues. Unfortunately, not only does he never get that shower, pretty soon, there won't be a Strauss house at all. - One-shot.


"Laxus, it's so early," Lisanna whined as she opened the front door of the Strauss house to reveal the man. "What are you doing here?"

He was standing there, himself and his workout attire drenched in sweat, headphones just as prominent as his scowl.

"Why'd you come answer the door if all you were gonna do is whine about it?" he retorted without answering her question, shoving his way into the house. "Huh?"

"Because the others are upstairs."

"Up- You have a one story house, Lisanna."

"In the attic," she continued to whimper, rubbing at her sleepy eyes as she shut the door behind the slayer. "We have one of those, you know."

He didn't, but he could have assumed.

"Where," he asked as she glared at him for still speaking and therefore not allowing her to slunk on back to bed, "is it?"

Lisanna led him to her own bedroom, which Laxus had only, at most, ever caught glimpses into before, and over to the woman's closet. Sticking his head in there, Laxus found a panel in the ceiling had been pushed aside and a little ladder was resting on the lip of the opening. From inside of it he could hear the sound of Mirajane's sing-song voice barking out orders to her younger brother.

"Mira!" Lisanna finally yelled from behind Laxus when it became clear he wasn't going to make his presence known. It made the slayer glare at the younger woman, but she didn't care; he could be creepy on his own time. She wanted to go back to sleep. "Laxus is here."

"Ooh, Laxus." It only took a few moments for her head to come poking out of the hole, staring down at him with bright eyes. "Figured it was you."

"Why would you figure that?" came a grunt from Elfman upstairs. "I mean, at all?"

"I came over to shower," the man said simply. Behind him he could hear the creak of Lisanna's old bed as the young woman fell into it with a groan. "Plumbing at my place is all gunked up and he landlord is being an ass about it-"

"Ooh, dragon, don't use such words." And with that, Mira pulled her head back up. "But you can use the shower in my bathroom, if you want. I-"

"He's not going to walk around naked, is he?" the slayer heard Elfman ask from above. "Mira?"

Before she could answer, Laxus grumbled up, "And why would I do that, Elfboy?"

"Why do any of you do anything?" came the muffled complaint of Lisanna as her head pressed deeper into her pillow. "Why do we all have to have this conversation so early in the morning?"

"It's eight a.m., Lisanna," Mira sang down to her. "You should really be out of bed by now anyways."

"Because what clothes do you have here to wear?" Elfman, apparently, was still speaking to Laxus. "When you shower?"

"Ew." Lisanna lifted her head just to make a face over at her sister's boyfriend. "You're so gross, Laxus. What? Are you going to put back on your nasty clothes you have on right now?"

"That does sound pretty icky," Mirajane agreed.

"Are you all just going to ignore the fact I clearly have a backpack over my shoulders?" the slayer complained. "Or-"

"There's towels in the linen closet," was all his girlfriend said before she went back to instructing Elfman which box to move where.

Instead of heading off to go do what he came for, the slayer on stood there for a few moments, listening again. That didn't last for long though before he broke his own silence.

"Mirajane, what are you guys doing up there?"

"Why haven't you gone off and showered yet?" Elfman complained when he heard the sounds of the man climbing up the ladder then. "So you can hurry up and leave?"

Mira speaking didn't give the man a chance to answer as, the second he was halfway up into the attic (where he was promptly headed to kick Elfman's ass), the woman beamed at him while giggling, "Laxus, don't you know what day it is?"

"Uh, it was running day for me," he replied, pushing himself all the way up into the far too hot space to find boxes strewn all around. "So either a Thursday or Sunday."

"It's the first day of October!" Mira even bounced a bit, causing the whole clearly unstable, patched in places, holes in other wooden floor to shake and Elfman make a fearful face over at her. Hands clasped together, she explained, "The spookiest month of the entire year!"

"Why are you yelling?" Laxus grumbled as he made a face while looking around. "I'm literally right in front of you."

The attic seemed to span across the top of multiple rooms. While the ceiling was raised, it wasn't to a traditional height and both Elfman and Laxus were having to hunch over, the former more than the latter, as not to knock their heads on it or the hanging beams that supported the roof.

"I get to decorate the house," she said as Elfman continued to peek into boxes and either set them near the hole in the floor or back into the stacks they came from, "in new décor."

"Décor, huh?" Laxus repeated slowly. "Meaning-"

"Like, you know, festive things," she joyfully explained, only just barely containing a bounce. She too feared any sudden movements. "It's the festive season, after all."

"What?" Laxus asked with a frown. "Fall?"

"No, silly."

"She means stupid," Elfman grumbled which was enough motivation for Laxus to finish his trek up the ladder. Before he could get at the other man though (and no doubt bring the poor, decrepit attic to its knees), Mirajane was babbling agai-

Speaking.

Mira was speaking again.

"The festive season isn't a nature season," Mira went on. "It's a season of the mind."

"If it's not the season of everyone being quiet," Lisanna carped from down below, "then I don't get why we're talking about it."

"While it may not be that season," her older sister replied, "It's certainly the season of getting up before noon."

They'd see about that.

"As I was saying though Laxus," Mira continued as her boyfriend only continued to glare at the woman's brother (Elfman was too busy glaring into a box to notice). "It's a season of the mind."

"But what does that mean, Mirajane?" he grumbled in part from his annoyance of her mystic, in part of his annoyance over her siblings attitudes, and mostly just from the interest he had for some reason in the whole charade. "No more riddles."

"It's the festive season, Laxus," she repeated once more. "Like, you know, all the holidays. You get to decorate special for those. Like, you know, Halloween and The Feast of the King, and Winter Festival, and oh, Val-"

"Okay, okay, I get it," he grumbled. "The season of festivals."

"The festive season."

"Mira-"

"What's it to you anyways, Laxus?" Elfman, for some reason, was still being extremely hostile. Which in and of itself wasn't too shocking, but the way he was furthering the belittling was a bit out there. It wasn't typical for the two men to get along, but at the same time, they rarely butted heads so much in such a short amount of time. "Huh? Why don't you just go shower and leave?"

"I don't know what your problem is, Elfboy, but-"

"I'm gonna find all my October related things in here," Mira was quickly going on about nonsense because, well, it was obviously needed. Though she played naive and coy very well (perhaps too well), she did was neither in most situations. It wasn't lost on her that her brother and boyfriend were about two seconds away from leveling her poor house. No way she was letting that happen. Perhaps a little idle conversation would do the trick? "Plastic pumpkins and scented candles that just make you go, wow, is it just me or do you smell some changing leaves in here?"

"I smell something in here," Lisanna, once more, grumbled from beneath them. "And it's not the slayer that smells like sweat and overcompensation."

Laxus was close to his breaking point. Which is why, in response, he growled out, "Do you think I have to put up with this? Huh? Do you? Do any of you? Because-"

"And I have a very cute witch hat that I wear around the bar," Mira continued on, speaking louder now, as if in an attempt to drown out any of the negativity that was floating about. "Master always goes, 'Oh, Mirajane, that's a snazzy looking hat,' and I go, 'Thank you, Master,' and then he...makes weird passes at me that I have to get onto him for, but-"

"Mira, what the fuck?" Laxus complained. "Why would you-"

"Hey!" There. Now Elfman had a valid excuse to accost the other man. "Don't you curse at my sister! You spiky headed freak!"

"Spik- You know what, Elfboy, I've had it with you! I'm gonna-"

"Now, guys, please," Mira tried, but it was too late. A lot of things were in motion at that moment. Mira was moving to try and stay between them, Elfman, hunched over, was rushing towards Laxus while the slayer, not used to hunching, shot his head up, which hit a beam very hard and, for a few moments, Laxus only saw darkness.

It was stars he saw next, in his eyes, as well as the face of a concerned Lisanna Strauss. He wasn't flat on his back, as he could feel his backpack beneath him, but this wasn't his main focus. Instead, the first thing other than the throbbing pain in his head that he noticed was the sound of Elfman yelling and Mirajane trying to calm him down.

"Wha' hap...wha'..."

"Well," Lisanna said as she continued to stare down at him with eyes that, in certain light, looked bluer than her sister's, "you hit your head and got conked out. I've filed it in a report and plan on giving all this information to Natsu."

"Wha'?"

"Also," she said, jerking a thumb behind her, "Elfman is stuck in the floor."

It was such a nonsensical say that, especially in his current state of disorientation, Laxus had no idea what the woman meant. But, as he sat up to rub a hand to his head, he could see that she actually meant exactly what she said.

Before him was Mirajane, standing on the other side of the attic, freaking out more than anything while Elfman too was there, but rather than standing, he only saw the top half to the man. Torso, head, and arms. Everything else however, just wasn't there.

Because, as Lisanna had said, the man had quite literally fallen through the floor.

It was a lot to wrap your head around.

"This house," the slayer grumbled under his breath, "is a deathtrap."

"That's not true!" Even in her hysterics, Mirajane knew what was truly important; vehemently defending the purchase of a rundown shake when you were seventeen. "It just needs lots of love. And before the two of you started acting up-"

"I'll kill him," came a loud roar from Elfman, which, now that he was stuck in the wood, only made it shake far worse. Both Lisanna and the quite possibly concussed Laxus made eye contact then. It was with no words at all that they both agreed Mirajane was insane, Elfman was annoying, and they had to get out of that attic as soon as possible.

"Stop it, Elf," Mirajane critiqued as she came to at least one of those conclusions. "You're going to bring the whole attic down! Just stay still."

"Come on, Laxus, let's get you downstairs," Lisanna said as, getting to her feet, she held out a hand to help pull the slayer up.

The offer was generous, but laughable.

Laxus shoved to his own unstable feet because he'd lost enough of his manhood what with being knocked out by a piece of wood and all.

Fearful of him taking a tumble down it, Lisanna went down the ladder first. She wasn't quite sure what she would do, should the slayer do so, because he'd surely squash her should she try to catch him, but she liked to imagine herself helpful.

"Where are you two going?" Mira called out to them once they'd both, thankfully, made it safely down the ladder. "We have to figure out how to-"

"We're going to figure that out from a safe distance," Lisanna said as Laxus only headed out fo the house. He'd had enough Strauss shit for the day. Fuck them. You come over for a shower and some loving from your girlfriend only to get a concussion and a bad attitude.

Sheesh, what the heck was wrong with the Strauss siblings?

"Wait for me," Mira was calling though. When Elfman started to protest, she only said, "You just stay still. Don't move. Ooh, Elfman, if you break my attic-"

"It was Laxus' fault! And I'll be a man and build you a new one! I-"

"Just stay still until we can get back to you," his older sister instructed "And I mean it."

Which, given Mira's tone, was a serious command and under very limited circumstances would Elfman ever break it.

Once she was down the ladder though, she started to head out of Lisanna's room and into the hall, but was stopped in a queue that consisted of her younger sister and boyfriend, both standing in the tiny entrance, perfectly still.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a frown. "I thought-"

"Look," Lisanna said as both she and Laxus moved to the side so she too could see the sight to behold that was before them. "When will we ever see something like this again?"

It was Elfman's lower half, of course, just dangling there, above a pile of rubble on the floor, in the center of the living room. The whole thing was downright trippy.

Or maybe Laxus just needed to visit the hospital to have his head looked at.

He had hit it pretty hard, after all.

Mirajane, in all business mode then (she had to save her house, at all costs), sighed before shoving past the two.

"Come on," she ordered as she headed to the front door. Before that though, she called up to the dangling legs, "Elf, we'll just be outside, okay? Don't move."

"Mirajane-"

"It'll be okay." And she paused then, the annoyance and panic that had been stuck in her tone dying out as she spoke in the most honesty she could muster up in that moment to reassure her baby brother of his safety. She'd done it since she was born. In moments of great stress, it was almost second nature. "I promise."

The sun seemed unrelentingly bright outside to Laxus and, while he was digging in his backpack for some sunglasses, Mirajane and Lisanna devised plans.

"I guess, maybe," Mirajane said slowly, "we could get a bunch of butter and try to slip him out. You know, rub it all on his body, one hard push and hope for the best."

"I dunno, Mirajane, seems costly," her younger sister replied. "But I do happen to know where Natsu and Happy are fishing today. Whenever I'm in trouble, I always go to them. So just wait here for a few minutes and-"

"Why don't I save you the trouble," Laxus grumbled as he slipped on his sunglasses, "give you fifty jewels, send you down to the store for some lighter fluid, and we burn the whole damn house to the ground?"

"Um, I'd rather we not," Mirajane remarked as she made a face at her boyfriend. "I kind of thought I'd made that clear, but-"

"Natsu wouldn't do that," Lisanna complained, even sticking her tongue out at the older man. "He would help."

"He's never helped a damn thing in his life."

"He's helped saved the guild many times," Lisanna argued. She could get really heated when defending the honor of a man that couldn't care less over who thought of him as honorable and who didn't. Honestly, burning Mirajane's house down (albeit on accident), wouldn't sound too bad to the Salamander. "And all you've ever done is what? Try to destroy it?"

"You know what, little girl?" Laxus was done. So very, very done. "You-"

"Why don't you," she interrupted then, not wanting another unfortunate situation on her hands. Or to have to break up with Laxus. Because if he did try and harm Lisanna, that's certainly where things would end. Not that he'd ever give her more than a tongue lashing, honestly, but after a head injury, who knew? "Give her the jewels, Laxus, but with it she buys the butter? Or you go do it? Or something? Other than burning my house down, of course."

Mira felt the last part went without saying, but given the events of the last half hour, she wasn't so sure anymore.

Snorting, Laxus turned to walk off. "You two stay here. I'll be back."

"With butter?" Mira asked hopefully.

"Nope," was all he responded.

As the two Strauss women watched in silence as he headed off, Lisanna waited for him to become a dot down the road before saying, "You know, Mirajane, this might not be the best time, but me and Elf wouldn't hate a break up between the two of you."

Still watching after her boyfriend, Mira only responded in her pretend dimwittedness, "Elfman and I aren't dating, silly. That'd be gross."

Lisanna only blinked, considered how much more fun of a boyfriend Laxus had been for her sister than most, before nodding in agreement. "Yeah. It would."

As they turned to go back into the house and keep their brother calm, neither was sure when to expect Laxus back. Or with what. So they went to work slathering poor Elfman with butter and peanut butter (as well as debate if mushing up peanuts in butter would make the latter) that they found in the fridge and were currently in the process of hoping for the best.

Lisanna was actually standing on a chair, so that she could rub sticks of butter around her brother's waist when it happened. The door opened and, instead of there just being Laxus (which, while the predicament could be an embarrassing sight between the two, if he decided to continue his relationship with Mirajane, would probably find it being one of the lesser offenses), he was accompanied by, honestly, the only people in the world that would willingly step foot into what definitely sounded like a condemned house just because Laxus Dreyar told them to.

"Laxus," the youngest Strauss sibling complained, "why is he here?"

"Ah, no. You didn't tell me _she'd_ be here," Bickslow bellowed much to the amusement of his wooden dolls. They floated gracefully around his head, cackling by their beloved papa's exclamation.

"Well, I presume she lives here, Bickslow," Freed, who was coming in behind them, remarked with a frown. "Not to mention her brother is, trapped in a rickety old floor, so even if she didn't I'd imagein she'd come to-"

"Elfman!" And Evergreen was shoving pass everyone to come stand by his side. Err, well, his dangling side. "Are you alright?"

"What?" they heard from above them as the man hear the woman's voice. "Ever?"

And he kicked his legs a bit before, loudly, they heard Mirajane exclaim, "Elfman, cut it out! You'll make the whole attic fall down."

And Freed and Bickslow both turned to head right on back out of the house.

"Stop." Laxus went to shut the door, trapping them all in the death house. "We can't just leave him like this and you both know that."

"Well, you can't, boss, because you're fucking ol' Mirajane up there," the seith replied as he and his wooden dolls tried to get by the slayer. "But me-"

"Oh, Bickslow, just tell them all then, why don't you?" Lisanna hissed as she jumped off the chair. Looking around at the other four in the room (she wasn't including Elfman's legs), "Bickslow and I slept together. There. Happy?"

"No more than I was before Laxus barricaded the door," Freed remarked dryly. "But-"

"I wasn't going to tell them!" Bickslow glared over at the young woman then. "Lisanna. Do you have wax in your ears? I was avoiding the topic all together!"

"You mentioned-"

"That only Laxus was the only one out of him, me, and Freed sleeping with someone in this house. How was that unclear?"

"Unclear," his dolls either questioned or deemed, depending on who you asked. "Unclear."

"I don't..." Lisanna had just done a 180 from being beyond peeved to utterly mortified. "Um..."

"What did Lisanna say?" they heard the muffled Elfman asked. "Mira?" And his feet began to kick. "When I get out of here, I'm going to kill Bickslow too!"

"Too?" Laxus, whether from his concussed state or just purely on his own volition, about went up there to stomp on the defenseless man's head. It's what old Laxus would do. Assuming, for some reason, old Laxus wouldn't have bailed by now if not be in in the Strauss house to begin with. "Listen here, you little-"

"Would all be quiet and calm down?" came the sound of Mirajane from above. It was only once she got silence that she said, "Now, who wants to help slather Elfman was some syrup too? It should be in the kitchen."

"Surely," Freed complained as Evergreen hastily took off to find it, "there is a better way to go about this. And a less messy one."

"If you got a suggestion, Freed, I'm more than willing to listen," Mira said truthfully, but, as soon as the man opened his mouth, someone else began to talk over him.

"And why don't I get to be the one mad? Huh?" Bickslow was dire his question officially to Lisanna, but also to the world at large. Because when he saw injustice, he had to act! You know, if the injustice was being doing to him rather than being perpetrated by. "Because I'm the man? And I'm supposed to just be glad of every single conquest I have? Is that it? Do you know how much it sucks having slept with Lisanna for me? Do you? Ruined my whole life. Can't even go into the guildhall without seeing her there. But does anyone ask how I feel about it?"

"Until this moment, none of us knew it happened," Freed reminded to which Laxus shrugged a bit.

Even had he, there was a good chance he still wouldn't have asked.

"I'll strangle him," came the declaration from Elfman and, once more, the house fell into chaos. Err, well, the people in it did, while the house only struggled to maintain its structure.

"Elfman, stop it," Mirajane complained. "And Freed-"

"Coming," he said, heading off to find however it was that you got up to the attic. "Eventually."

"Feel bad about it, Bickslow," Lisanna responded with a glare. "I don't care. You're a jerk and I hate you and-"

"And you're nothing but an annoying stupid little girl-"

"Can't use that insult," Laxus coughed as Evergreen returned with a bottle of some sticky syrup. "After you've….uh..."

"Deflowered her?" Bickslow offered up all on his own and man, Laxus wasn't sure if it was from his head injury or what, but he felt like he was swimming in gelatin.

"Bickslow!" Lisanna yelled as, that time, Elfman almost kicked the syrup out of Ever's hands, which got his named up at him s well.

"Don't you talk to me either," the stuck man retorted, now thoroughly pissed off once more. "After what you did. Breaking up with me! I'm a man! You can't break up with a man!"

"Wait, what?" Bickslow was able to fall out of his own drama for the moment if it meant being able to take a prod at Evergreen. "You broke up with him and still showed up here to rescue him? Gosh, you're pathetic."

Glaring over at the man, Evergreen replied, "You came to Lisanna's and you two are...whatever you two are."

"Not together," the youngest Strauss said loudly.

"Regrettably once together," the seith retorted.

"Can someone point me in the direction of the attic?" a very lost rune mage begged.

As Laxus went to show him and Elfman continued to hang there, Evergreen huffed a bit, glaring down at the syrup in her hands.

"You know why I broke up with you, Elfman," was what she finally said. "And we do not need to relive it in front of these….degenerates."

"Usually when people take a long pause before their next words, it's because they're trying to find kinder words," Lisanna complained. "Unless, you know, they're you, apparently."

"Watch it, girlie," Ever threatened.

"No, you watch it," Elfman said from above them. "Evergreen. Why don't you just get out, huh? I don't need you to worry about me. Nope. Since you apparently care so much more about what Laxus thinks of our relationship as oppose to what the two of us think it is-"

"Elfman," Ever started, but was cut off as Laxus came back down the hall after, apparently, sending Freed up into the attic with Mirajane.

"What are you talking about?" the slayer asked with a frown. "I could give two shits what the two of you do together."

"That's not what you said," Elfman kept up from above. "And you know it."

"I don't know what the hell you're taking about, Elfboy," Laxus carped, "but I know that you had better watch your tone."

"No!" He wouldn't. He refused. "I'm already stuck in the damn ceiling because of you-"

"Well, that one's more on you, I'd think," Mira offered from in the attic with him. "I did tell you to knock it off-"

"Wait, boss, how come you told Evergreen to break up with Elfman?" Bickslow asked, looking to Laxus for answers. "I mean, I tease her endlessly for it, but if she's happy, I'd never do that."

"Perhaps," the others heard from above as Freed spoke more to Mira than them, "we could find a hand saw and saw him out of there."

"Do you think he'd survive the blood loss though?" Mirajane asked softly in a concerned tone.

"Wha- We're not cutting him in half, Mira," Freed complained. "Just cutting around him."

There was actually a good chance that Mirajane hadn't just been feigning ignorance after all.

"Oh, well that makes a lot more sense, Freed," the barmaid giggled into her hand and he only stood there for a second, unsure of what to make of the whole thing. "I was a bit worried there for a moment."

It was easy to get lost in the absurdity of Mirajane Strauss and her two siblings, but he felt it then, in that moment. Two things, actually. First that, maybe, there was something deeper to them than just the blissfully ignorant surface. Two, deep in his gut, he had a sinking realization that, what with Laxus' quickly becoming obsessive nature towards being drawn into their drama, Freed himself might have a more upfront view of this hokum than he'd like.

Thouhg his stare was still quite quizzical, the rune mage pressed on as he said, "Yes, well, should we get to it then? Do you have a saw or blade of some kind that might-"

"Do I not get a say in this?" Elfman complained.

"Would you rather you keep getting slathered honey?" Freed questioned. "Or-"

"Honey!" From below, Lisanna forgot her own discontent for a moment and considered her bother's. "We have honey, Mirajane. Do you think we should go ahead and-"

"Well, if we're sawing him in half," Mira began as Feed pressed a palm to his forehead, wondering how, just how it was possible that this woman ran anything down at the bar much less kept herself from forgetting how to breathe, "I don't think-"

"You're what?" Elfman exclaimed as he too, apparently, forgot that this in noway was the plan and in no way could possibly ever be any plan ever, at all, except in some gorey snuff lacrima movie that got passed around in the darker circles and even then, honestly, in what world?

Still, his concern over this caused him to kick and that time he just narrowly missed smashing his foot against Evergreen's face. Her evasive maneuvers to avoid this, however, resulted in her holding the container of the syrup she'd fetched from the kitchen just so that it was knocked by Elfman's big toe. This was enough force to send it flying, where it hit Bickslow in the face causing him to exclaim and, inevitably, his ill trained dolls into firing off green beams at seemingly random intervals. One struck Lisanna, perhaps by pure chance, but more likely not, making her scream and Elfman kick some more and it was just going to happen.

Despite all of Mirajane's patch jobs over the past few years, if not the past decade (and then some, adding in the seven years), the house was just always meant to wind up a big heap of splintery wood and staph infected metals.

There was no time for any of them to get out, but it's not likely any would as, over the sound of the commotion the others were all causing, the loud rumble could be heard and though there was no definite cracking, the overall sense of impending doom hit them all at once and they clung to the things they held dear.

Bickslow, though blind as the sticky syrup that had been strewn upon him covered his visor flailed in vain to grasp all his wooden children and shield them to his chest. The two women downstairs, Evergreen and Lisanna, both lunged for Elfman's legs for some reason or another which would, at best, have softened his blow to the ground and done little for them, but Laxus, in the absence of Mirajane, went for the first white haired thing he saw and more or less dove over Lisanna, huddling over her, hoping to the take the brunt of whatever was about to befall them on his back. Above them, Elfman reached out for his oldest, dearest sister and, for a moment, it seemed as if Mira was reaching for him too.

But no.

She was reaching past him.

For her boxes upon boxes of festive décor and family memories that she kept stored away in that tiny attic that spanned many rooms of the house which was soon to be nothing more than a vacant lot.

Freed, however, had little he cared for in that attic as far as other people went, but he did have what he held high and that was his intentions of always being a gentleman. This idea was started that day when Satan Soul bested him in what should have been the most embarrassing, humbling loss he ever had the dishonor of being a part of, but rather was one that he held rather close to him in times of indecision. It had been a turning point in his life as a very young, hardly even adult. And it was at the hands of none other than Mirajane Strauss of all people that this was imprinted in his memory, an ever faithful reminder that even when it was hard, even when he didn't want to, he should always take care of not just his team and his elusive leader, but also his guild mates.

His friends.

Which is why he tried to shield Mirajane, like Laxus was her younger sister down below, but somehow missed her (certain in part because Mira was throwing herself, no abandon, towards a pile of dusty boxes for some reason that Freed didn't even wish to figure out) and ended up tripping over Ellffman's big oaf of hands and face-planting just as the building gave one last great heave and the whole thing crashed down around (and on top of) them.

It was very fitting, quite honestly. The whole thing, Freed felt. He was certain that there was wisdom in Mira's most prized possession ending up a pile of nails and wood. For Laxus, settling for the next best thing that he can get. Evergreen grasping onto the wrong half of things. Bickslow blinded in betray by his sallet. Elfman finding the one thing he coveted above all, his older sister's true affection, just out of reach. Lisanna once more sectioned off from her siblings, perhaps by some of her own doing, perhaps by some of their own, but definitely as an ultimate sign from the universe that, eventually enough had to be enough.

But no, Freed didn't find solace in the fact that they were certainly all being taught lessons in that very moment, but rather sulking on the fact he'd been once more shown the truth.

No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you put into it, being the better person will always fuck you over in the end. Always.

It won't always end up with the remnants of a roof leveled atop you, but the reminder will always, without a doubt, be upon you in some way or another.

The thing that snapped Laxus back into reality from where he was buried below the rubble was the loud moans of what definitely sounded like Elfman which, for someone, was probably a good sign, but in that moment, he was probably the last one on his list of concerns. Beneath him he could feel Lisanna's frail frame and, though it wasn't much, he could definitely feel her chest heaving up and down, which meant she was alive. Still, not his main concern, but definitely higher than her brother.

"Freed?" he called loudly after clearing his throat which felt full of dust and other pesky things that were associated with such old homes coming down to their base. "Bickslow? Ever?"

It was far too silent for far too long for him before, with a feint snicker that only his dragon hearing assisted him in hearing, Laxus heard Bickslow call out, "Hear that, Evergreen? He said my name before yours."

"Clearly," came the weary voice from somewhere in the rubble," he was saying the names in the order of least important to the most."

And then, which was a huge weight off his chest, Laxus heard from off, a bit further than the others, "In your dreams. Both of you."

"Either way you cut it though," Bickslow insisted after Freed's statement, "I'm second."

Which wasn't much to brag about, sure, but at the end of the day, it was still something.

Again, silence befell them. From beneath him, Laxus could feel Lisanna shifting around and though he felt cloudy, the feeling made Laxus feel as if he were forgetting something. But what could it be? The Thunder Legion and the Strauss siblings were all...the Strauss…

"Mira!" And he was shoving up then, as best he could, but it was difficult. "Mirajane!"

Elfman's moans had stopped and it wasn't ten seconds later that he too found the strength to call out for the woman. "Big sis," he called out in a quite raggedy voice. "Are ya there?"

There were other sounds then as, given the time of day, many people were just leaving their houses for the morning and the rather sleepy neighborhood had more than a few people that were not only curious enough to stare at the now felled house, but also begin pulling away rubble.

Laxus felt helpless, honestly, as he had to wait for someone to help him out off his current predicament. He felt like, should he go into Dragon Force, he could surely free himself, but it wasn't as simple for him to just turn that on and off. And the head wound that he was no doubt sporting twice by that point was of little assistance as well.

The second he was able to wiggle his way out, he was. One of the neighbors was offering him some sort of container, no doubt containing water, but he downed it in hopes it were some sort of whiskey. It was not. And, though it was suggested by the others that he take a seat, he couldn't. He wouldn't.

Freed was the next pulled out and Laxus somewhat assisted in that, but Lisanna, who wasn't far behind, he had no help in as he was now concerned more with the general vicinity in which he thought that Mia might be in. And it was only when he heard her softly call from beneath something that, yes, she was there, she was safe, that everything caught up to Laxus and he finally just went to sit it out for a bit, for once.

He refused to go to the hospital until Mirajane was dug out, but did watch the others head on out. He told Lisanna to go, hardly had to convince Bickslow, but Ever and Freed were a bit more difficult. The former waited until Elfman, who was by far in the worst shape and definitely going to be sporting more than his far share of broken bones for a bit, was helped away from the rubble, but the latter sat by with Laxus, just watching.

Waiting.

It was Mirajane herself, in the end, that managed to claw her way out of things by transforming one fist into a powerful beasts, perhaps one of the dark souls she harbored inside her neither Laxus nor Freed were too sure, but certainly something that packed enough force to help her clamber from beneath the felled building broken and bruised, but more mentally than anything else.

"It's all gone," was all she kept whispering the rest of the day. "Everything's all gone."

And while it might have sounded a bit callus for her reflections to be more focused on the material, neither her siblings nor Laxus and his cohorts could truly fault her. Because they were more than that to Mirajane. A lot more. The whole house, really.

"We grew up in, like, this terrible little shack," Lisanna had recalled less than two months previously to Bickslow on the night when Mira and Laxus were out enjoying themselves, Evergreen and Elfman were out being miserable together, and Freed was faithfully studying his magic and the pair of leftovers that were the youngest Strauss and the (self-deemed) outcast of the Thunder God Tribe sat around drinking themselves into utter bliss, both pissed at the sheer fact their friends were having a good time and they weren't. "Like the worst. Mira always talks about how great it was, us and Papa and Elf and Mama, but..."

"I get that," Bickslow had agreed as they huddled together at the guildhall, which was closing down and only Kinana remained, cleaning up, and Cana, who'd been the one to con the two of them into drinking with her only to finally reach that ever furthering blackout period she pretended she was unable to achieve any longer. "Not so easy for anyone, growing up and all."

"Yeah, but it was horrible," Lisanna had insisted. "Like, one room, all three of us, no room, really, in another sense, but-"

"But you guys loved each other through it," Bickslow finished along with pretend barfing affects.

"No," Lisanna said with a roll of her eyes. "But we lived through it because that's what you do. Always live. You know. Until you know, Mirajane, you know, she, um...she..." Lisanna lost her train of thought that faithful night, a bit, but she found it again as she said, "Look at all Mirajane's done."

"The boss, for one," the seith responded in kind, making a face at the suggestion.

"A lot," her sister kept up. "More than you." Before Bickslow could complain though, she added, "More than me. More than all of us. She's done so much for Elf and I. Even just providing us a place to stay. And how do we repay her?"

"How do you repay her?"

"By gettin' like this," Lisanna sobbed miserably then because hse usually didn't drink and no way did she ever want to again. And Natsu and Happy would be back from their job with Lucy and Gray in a few days, surely, and she wouldn't have to spend her free time with the likes of Bickslow.

"By getin' like this," Bickslow agreed though he was typically like this on nights when he was alone. Being messed up on just alcohol was actually an improvement from the other things he did to take the edge off at times. A big improvement.

But he'd agree with Lisanna if she liked it.

And she did like it.

Then.

She wouldn't like it so much in the daylight, but she'd liked it then when she felt so down about being so down, in the first place, just because her siblings were in great places in their lives and she wasn't. She was still a tag along who didn't apply herself, come on, Lisanna, even Natsu at least somewhat does that, but what's your excuse?

She did do one thing Natsu had yet to do that night, however, but she didn't quite thing that was what Mira had in mind when she was giving one of her more spirited pep talks about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and taking charge of your life.

It was something that she'd end up regretting at the time, but hey, you don't hit it out of the park on your first misadventure into being an adult.

A soft line drive was by far more common and most widely accepted.

But she meant what she'd said in that bar to Bickslow. Well, most of it anyways. About Mirajane. Once she was finished railing against her establishment, that is. The stuff she said about the house though. She might not have phrased it as she'd liked but, as with most things said that night, she'd thought it for a long time and was glad to get it out to someone.

It was such a gesture that went beyond words. Such an accomplishment. That, after living for years, watching their parents hardly make the ends meet that Mirajane had been able to provide to her two younger siblings in ways that she couldn't even imagine back when she was one of the kids being desperately attempted to be provided for. She'd grown from a scared little girl into a grown woman that took care of her responsibilities and then some.

Now, in that moment, as they all sat around in different stages of the hospital, it wasn't lost on any of them that it was gone, as Mira had said.

All of it.

Everything she'd worked towards.

Just gone.

"Oh, cheer up, girl," Makarov said in a way that perhaps only he could get away with. Standing at the side of Mira's cot, he patted her hand as she blinked up at him with the same dead look in her eye that she'd had since she'd watched her life's dream come crashing down. "You're a member of Fairy Tail. You should know as well as I that you're not truly home somewhere before you watch it turn to a pile of rubbish beneath your feet."

As Mira, in her somewhat incapacitated for the time being mind, considered this, Laxus only stewed across the room, annoyed that his dang Gramps had gone to check up on the barmaid before his one and only grandson.

What's the point of being an heir to a throne if, after a near death experience, the person currently warming your place don't even seem concerned for ya?

Lisanna was the first of the Strauss siblings released the next day and, though she wasn't quite sure where to head from the hospital, she found herself going home for some reason, or to what was left of it. To just see, she decided as she neared the block.

To just see.

But as she round the corner this was made far less morose an occasion as it typically would be as she found not just a pile of what used to be a home she'd spent memories in lying destroyed on the ground, but rather a good number of her guild mates gathered about, seemingly busy digging through the destruction as well as making piles of things.

A single pair stood out to her before the others, of course.

"Natsu!" she called and waved as she rushed over. "Happy!"

The latter had actually been fluttering with his pearly white wings, struggling along with Lucy to lift and move a heavy beam, but at the sound of Lisanna's voice, he forgot all about that and turned to rush off, just narrowly missing harming the celestial wizard.

"Lisanna!" he cried as he reached her first, crashing into her chest as if in a semblance of a hug. "You're here! We were so worried!"

"You were?" she asked as Natsu, after saving poor Lucy from being crushed by the wooden beam, rushed over as well.

"Worried?" the pink haired mage called out as he came closer. "What's there to worry about, Hap? Of course Lisanna's was okay. What would she be if she wasn't?"

Dead.

Gone.

Away from them.

But none of the three liked to think of those times often.

"You gotta be, like, the strongest of all of them now, huh?" the feline asked next. "Getting out earlier than everyone else. Boy. What's it feel like to be the strongest mage in all of Fairy Tail? Being stronger than Laxus and Mirajane and all?"

"I dunno," Lisanna muttered softly, a bit taken aback that this was the first question out of his mouth. "But- Erza."

"Oh, yeah, Erza. She's pretty high up there too," the cat went on, not realize what she was truly saying. "I bet she could survive ten houses collapsing down on her. No offense or anything."

"She seems really in control of things," was what Lisanna had actually been referring too as she observed the red haired woman from afar, watching as she carried around a clipboard and barked orders, all from her work space supervisor outfit that she saved for just such occasions.

"Isn't she always?" Natsu griped, I only a little, wincing at the sight of the tongue lashing Gajeel was receiving from the swordswoman at the moment for spending more time looking for nails to eat than actually doing much manual labor.

"You should be enjoying this," she complained loud enough for everyone to hear. "The manual labor alone, if not the sense of deep rooted comradery coursing through your veins as you consider what a shock, what a surprise it will be to Mirajane and her brother and sister to know that we're going to fix up their lot for them."

"Brother and sister of Mirajane aren't their names, you know," Levy reminded softly from not far away where Jet and Droy seemed more intent on keeping her from getting any splinters than actually helping.

"Yeah," Pantherlily remarked snidely to the letter mage, "but she can't brag about helping out the two of them. Mira on the other hand-"

"I've been workin' since yesterday!" Gajeel was griping right back to Erza because, having not grownup in the guild, he didn't always have that inherent sense to just do as she said and, when unable to, silently ignore it to the best of your abilities. "Hardly any breaks. You mean I can't enjoy a random nail now and again to keep me going? You're a slave driver, asking me to help out under these conditions!"

Lisanna, across the lot, looked to Natsu as she asked, "Is that true?"

Snorting, he said, "Hardly. Only reason Gajeel came was to get nails, probably, I'd bet."

"No, I meant the other thing he said." Lisanna glance over at them again, watching as Erza turned her attention over to where Macao and Wakaba seemed to be spending more time puffing away at their pipes than doing any real labor. "About you guys being here since yesterday. Doing all this."

"Of course." And Natsu bounced a bit at the thought. "How could we not? The second we heard you guys were in trouble, we all rushed right over. We'dda gone to see you in the hospital, but-"

"Mean ol' Erza wouldn't let us," Happy tattled as he finally left Lisanna's. "Said that we had to stay here and help. Instead of come see you and Mira. Can you believe that? I mean, obviously they needed us here-"

"Obviously," Lisanna agreed as Lucy, who was walking over then to greet the other woman snorted.

"To what, Happy?" the blonde asked with a frown. "Drop wooden beams on me?"

"I didn't drop it on you," he carped right back. "I just dropped my half that was helping support your half. Besides, you know Natsu wouldn't let it crush you."

As Lisanna stood there, eventually to be greeted by all those around, she felt felt...comforted, again, in a way that she hadn't in a long time. Almost like she did that first time Master gave her and her siblings a warm bowl of soup after being on their own, running, for so long. Or the first time she laid eyes on them again, Elfman and Mirajane, her Elfman and Mirajane, after far too long.

That, hey, it's going to be okay kinda feeling from when you're a kid and, even though you do live in that tiny one room shack that shook and rumbled when there was thunder and lightning about, your father and mother weren't far to calm your fears. She was finding it further and in between, the more grown she got, but when it hit you, it truly hit you.

And, looking upon what only a few days ago was her happy home with her siblings, Lisanna felt that feeling surround her.

Though she was quite emotional over it, Mirajane, however, felt the most profound affect when Makarov came, once more, to visit her in the hospital.

"We'll help in whatever way we can, of course, the guild will," the old man said as she stood by her bedside, glad honestly just to see a much less haunting face being sported by one of his favorite of his surrogate children, "but most certainly with manpower. Wont' be much of it with your brother sidelined, but-"

"Master," Mirajane whispered softly and, yet, was able to cut him off with that one whimper, "I don't-"

"Hush." He bowed his head in response to her words, turning away. "Rest now, then, Mira. The bar's never much the same without you."

And he headed, finally, over to where Laxus was stewing in his cot, no longer just glaring out at all the other cots with all the other patients, but in particularly his girlfriend's because, once more, she was stealing away his grandfather's primary attention.

It wasn't jealousy.

That's what Laxus kept having to remind himself.

It was something, he'd admit that much, but he refused to call it jealousy.

"Hue, boy," was all the man said as he passed, however. "See the way your sweetheart was looking at me? I'd watch out, there, Laxus. Perhaps Mira's head injury will make her realize just which Dreyar she should be going after, hmmm?"

If he were in better spirits, Laxus wouldda replied something snarky back.

But instead he continued to stew and stew some more until slowly, Bickslow and then Ever and Mirajane and eventually even Freed were discharged and only Elfman remained as the person he knew in the ward.

The worst part was when he was moved to the cot beside the oaf, probably.

Or no, it was definitely ever falling for a Strauss in the first place and being forced to put up with such a situation.

Yeah, definitely.

It was somewhere between cabin fever and the pain pill they'd given him that Laxus found himself actually having a chat with Elfman.

And even then, it was as painstaking as it sounded.

It started with Laxus simply going, "I'm...real sorry that this all happened to your house and all, Elfboy."

And Elfman, who wasn't too big on Laxus dating his sister from the start, if not being big on the slayer's whole aura to begin with, had only felt that feelings intensify a few days prior to the house collapse when Evergreen gave him the whole speech about how they weren't meant to be together.

They went through this at least every two months or so in their relationship, but that time was different.

Because it wasn't his presence she was using as a basis for the rejection, but rather the opinions of another. Sure, it was the thoughts of others opinions that typically caused their relationship to go awry, but now she had concrete evidence that others found their union to be as odd and revolting as she always feared.

Laxus had informed her of just how weird he thought Elfman was and how below her standards the man seemed to be. That's what Evergreen said. That they just couldn't last together, in any capacity if the man was against them. Laxus was the most important opinion in the world to her.

It was all that mattered.

You know what hurt the most though? More so, even, then just feeling badly because, you know, he'd gotten broken up with?

The fact that, if he really wanted to, Elfman could have pulled the same rug ou from underneath Laxus' feet. Of course he could have. If he told Mirajane that he honestly just could not stand her dating Laxus, she would have, regrettably, let the relationship go. He could probably still do it, at the current stage.

But he didn't. Even after Evergreen broke up with him and he knew that it was the other guy's fault, he didn't. Didn't tell her that he wanted her relationship terminated just like his was. Because Elfman cared so much about his sister's happiness, there was no way he could ever do that. Even after Evergreen broke up with him.

So even though it was Laxus who thought he was being the bigger person and having to put up with so much by speaking to the other guy, Elfman knew that, as always, he was without a doubt the biggest man in the room.

"Well," Elfman grumbled out after Laxus' apology for the house, "I guess it wasn't all your fault."

It wasn't any of his fault, Laxus wanted to inform him, but somehow manged to hold his tongue.

"I shouldn't have knocked you out, either," Elfman added. "Wasn't too manly, you know, picking on you and all."

"You didn't knock me out, you ogre," Laxus griped, unable to control himself then. "The wooden beam did that."

"Well, agree to disagree."

"No."

And they both glared over at one another for a moment before, looking off, Elfman took to crossing his arms over his chest as he said, "Agree to disagree on agreeing to disagreeing then. It's what a man would do."

"I'm not a man, Elfboy," Laxus replied with an accompanied glare. "I'm far more than just a mere man."

They probably would have continued to debate this (because Elfman definitely had a few thoughts on there somehow being something better than the term man) had they not gotten a visitor at that moment. Unfortunately for them both, it was the one woman neither wanted to see.

"Oh good," Ever remarked rather dryly as she took in the fact that neither would ook at her. "You're both next to one another."

"Not," Elfman grumbled, "by choice."

And Laxus wouldda shit a gasket if he were a damn robot because where the fuck did Elfman damn Strauss get off anyways, huh? Acting like he was being punished by _being allowed_ to breathe the same air as Laxus the super mighty all power Raijin Dreyar?

He was in such shock that it was hard for him to do much more than keep his mouth from hanging agape.

"Well, anyways," Ever began, but didn't finish as, apparently, she too was thrown off.

"Well, anyways," Elfman agreed as Laxus figured he also was thrown off by the audacious words that had fallen out of his whore mouth.

Honestly, who the hell did Elfman Strauss think he was? Acting put out by Laxus.

The nerve.

"I thought that I should come and talk to you. Both of you," Evergreen was going on as she, apparently, was bale to recover. Laxus was sure it was hard as he himself still had been unable to. "I wasn't planning for it to be at the same time, but-"

"Get to it then," Elfman demanded and, wow, Laxus would be impressed if he weren't _still not understanding how having to be around him was in any way shape or form a punishment for the big oaf, waste of space, piece of horseshit looking man._

Evergreen was taken aback and, apparently abandoning her original plans, she only said, "You know what, Elfman Strauss?"

"What?"

"I came here in peace, but you're not mature enough to-"

"Oh, is that what you came in?"

"Yes! I came to tell Laxus that he didn't control me and he could be as disappointed as he wanted, but now? Now you can suck an egg, Elfman."

"Good! Because maybe Laxus was right!" And he had both legs in casts and a sling on his arm a swell as some gauze wrapped around his head, but damn, Elfman Strauss looked ready to strangle someone then. "We shouldn't be together. At all."

"I'm glad we agree."

"So do-"

"Wait, what?" Laxus frowned over at the two of them once more. "Are the two of you still on that? I tried to tell you guys when we were in the house that I have no idea what you're talking about-"

'Oh, whatever, Laxus," Elfman complained. "At least be a man about it and admit it."

"There's nothing to admit to," the slayer said. "At all. You think I could give a shit who Ever was fucking?"

"Because you're a vindictive person who doesn't like to see others happy," Elfman said with a definite nod.

"You told me," Evergreen decided to explain instead. "Laxus."

"Told you that I hate to see others happy?"

Considering that then, Laxus almost nodded. Yeah, that probably did fall out of his mouth on occasion. It was true. Happiness was an annoying emotion unless he was the one experiencing it. Perhaps it stemmed from being left out so much as a child, before the guild was filled to the brim with them. When Fairy Tail was filled with drunk old men and the other kids in the neighborhood knew his father was a no good and his mother had left him and they'd tease him so much and he was left to play with his damn Gramps instead. He hated seeing those kids happy without him and it had carried over.

Or, maybe, he was just an embittered cynic because he was born an embittered cynic.

One or the other. Or neither.

Who knew, relaly?

"No," Evergreen said slowly. "You said that you hated Elfman and me together and that it disgusted you and that you wished I'd just break up with him and-"

"When did I say this?" he asked with a frown.

"I overheard you when you were talking with Freed at the guildhall and-"

"And what?" Huffing then, Laxus said, "I tell Freed lots of things. Deep, inner personal things. What? You expect me to carry them around? No. I tell them to him and then forget about them. And I wouldn't have had that conversation at the guildhall. I would have had it somewhere more pr- Are you spying on me again, Evergreen?"

And she looked way then, off at something else before saying, "Well, anyhow-"

"Evergreen-"

"Then you broke up with me over something that Laxus didn't even say to you?" Elfman asked with a frown. "Wow. Wow. What a man you are, Ever."

"If you're looking for a man, Elfman," Evergreen complained with a frown, "perhaps it's a good thing that we broke up."

"Perhaps it is!"

And she left in a huff and Laxus wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure that whole blow up meant that the pair were back together, probably, or maybe not yet, but soon, probably.

"Women aren't men," Elfman grumbled that day in the hospital though, to Laxus. "At all."

The slayer only sat there though, considering this, before shrugging and saying, "I for one am thankful."

"Speak," the other man grumbled angrily, "for yourself."

Oh, he certainly was.

When Laxus was discharged from the hospital, both Freed, Lisanna, and Mirajane showed up to help him to his place.

"Do you think that your pipes are all fixed up?" Mira asked in concern. "Or do you think you should go ahead and stay at the dormitory? That's where I've been staying."

"My what?"

"Your pipes, Laxus," the barmaid insisted as he got up from the cot, prepping to hopefully leave the godforsaken hospital forever. "Remember? You said that you had to come over that day because your pipes were blocked up or something."

"Mira," the slayer griped in what sounded like disappointment. "I didn't say that because they really were. I just wanted to come over and needed an excuse."

"What?"

Shrugging, he said, "I didn't think you'd be, you know, cleaning out your attic or… I came over to see...uh..."

He hated it. Being that way in front of others. Especially Freed and freaking Elfman.

"Us?" Lisanna offered up just to be a bitch, probably.

She was very good at that.

And they were all looking at him so Laxus only nodded a bit.

"You did? Really?" Elfman, for some reason, was a big idiot. "All of us?"

"Yep." He was dead inside as he said it, but it did get something that might be construed as a giggle out of Mirajane even in her depressive state, which definitely made it worth it. "I did."

Freed made a face, glancing between the three of them, before saying, "Yes, well, now that we know his pipes are all well, should we head out, Laxus?"

"As soon as possible, yeah," he grumbled. "And Mirajane, why are you and Lisanna staying at the dormitory anyways?"

Uh, beside the fact that their house was in shambles? Because there was tons of free sympathy lying around for Mira to soak up in her time of need.

"W-Well, Master offered me a place to stay with him, but-"

Laxus almost choked on air. "He did what?"

Freed only let out a long sigh. "The situations change, but the outcomes rarely do."

"And I didn't say that Lisanna was staying at the dormitory," Mira said then, slowly, as she thought. "She's very happy where she is, staying with Lucy-"

"Fine, you beat it out of me," Lisanna interjected about then. She had been leaning over, hugging Elfman goodbye, but stood straight then to address the others. "I'm staying with Bickslow, if you all must know."

"You're what?" Elfman asked as Mirajane only made a face.

"That was real? Back at the house?" she asked with a frown. "I thought I imagined that portion of things."

"I wish I was imagining this moment," Laxus grumbled. "And Lisanna, where are you staying with Bickslow? He's usually crashing on my couch."

"About that," the youngest Strauss said. "Bickslow and I have been staying at your apartment."

"You what?"

"I mean, now that you're back, you can definitely have the bed back-"

"Mira, book me at the dormitory," Laxus instructed with a grimace. "Because if I go home, I might just commit a murder."

There was no murder to be had, however, when Laxus found himself back at his apartment. There was, however, a period in which he sat on his couch, arms crossed over his chest and Mirajane at his side, on the edge of her seat, while the pair listened to Lisanna and Bickslow explain how they'd seemingly gone from regretting each other to, apparently, shaking up in Laxus' apartment.

"I was upset and lonely, you know," Lisanna said, "that first time we hooked up."

"And I was just me," Bickslow stated proudly, as if that were anything to be proud about.

"And then after the house fell, I got sad and lonely again."

"I was still just me."

"And I did stay with Lucy, at first," Lisanna went on. "Her apartment's nice."

"We ran into one another though, up at the guildhall, after I got released," Bickslow took over. "And I could tell Lisanna was feeling down and low and I made her so happy the first time, how could I not again?"

"But instead of feeling all bad about it this time," Lisanna added, "once it was all said and done, we actually felt pretty great."

"A shared life experience will do that for you," Bickslow agreed.

"And being in Laxus' apartment didn't hurt either," Lisanna said to which the seith nodded.

For a moment, Laxus and Mira were silent. Then, the former spoke.

"Where exactly," he asked slowly, "did you two have sex that first time? Or the next? Or any other time?"

Mira almost told him to watch his mouth, talking that way to her sister, but then something dawned on her too and, slowly, Mira started to get up from the couch.

"Where? Bickslow? Lisanna?" Laxus asked as they only stared at him for long moments before their eyes drifted a bit to what he was seated on. "Where? Someone tell me where!"

At the very least, Laxus found the perfect place in the apartment for Elfman to sleep when Mira insisted he be allowed to stay with them as well.

Lisanna and Bickslow however got the boot. Well, Lisanna only for a bit, as Mira was able to weaseled her into being able to stay in the guest room (Bickslow had never been allowed in there), but Bickslow didn't have a cool older sister who had an in with the boss.

"It's your own damn fault, you know. Shouldn't have slept with Lisanna in the first place."

Well, he did have one, but Evergreen and he were the same age and the 'in' he had with her wasn't as close knit as the Strausses had with one another.

But that was how Laxus found himself, however, in a slightly different position than it all started, but still getting Mira at the price and misfortune of her two dorky siblings.

It would be a few days before Mira and Laxus found themselves at the empty lot that no was where Mira's house once stood. The guild members were all gone, as all the work for the time being was done.

At least until Mirajane figured out what the next step would be.

"Do you think you'll rebuild?" Laxus asked as he stood with her on the sidewalk, both watching as if in disbelief that only a short time before, her home would have been right there in all its dilapidated glory. "Or maybe buy a new house?"

"I dunno. What do you think?"

"I think you should just live with me," he said though it was accompanied with a tightness in his stomach.

"I think you should realize that means Lisanna and Elfman are staying too," Mira said with a realization that not only would this cause him to change his tune, but that going through with it without that would be a death sentence, probably, in such an early relationship.

"I think you should figure out other living arrangements."

"I figured."

"You can rebuild it," he said, dropping an arm over her shoulders and pulling her close. This hurt them both a bit as Mira's shoulder was sore and Laxus' arm was feeling even worse still, but being so close to one another made it worth it. "Even better than before. Different. Fill it with new memories and things. I know that you're, you know, between funds a lot, but that's only 'cause you wanna stick around the bar so much. Take a few S-Class jobs, get some jewels, and you can work on it slow. I'm not too great as construction, but I'll help when I can."

In better spirits, Mirajane might have made a job about Laxus' swinging a hammer, but she felt pretty low still.

Leaning into him, she said, "Thanks."

"It's whatever you want, Mirajane. I'll help you with whatever you choose."

And as the sun hung above what once was the Strauss siblings humble, yet standing abode, Mira and Laxus turned to walk away from it. But just for a bit. Until they were sure of what they were going to be doing next.

"The worst part," Mira sighed on their walk through the town, "is that I'm going to miss the festive season."

"The what?"

"Laxus-"

"You can decorate up at the bar."

"It's not the same."

"I'll buy you a new witch's hat."

"It's about more than that."

"What's it about then, Mirajane?" he asked with a sigh though he had a pretty good inkling what she was going to say. "Huh?"

"It's about decorating your home and feeling festive and in the mood there." Then, eyes bright, she stared up at him. "Laxus, do you think we could add some décor to your apartment?"

"My apartment has décor."

"A darts board isn't décor."

"I'll let you add a jagged pumpkin face to it, if it'll shut you up."

"What about for Winter Festival? And the Feast of-"

"Mira-"

"Can I at least buy some candles?" she gave in then. "Please, dragon? To burn? And smell?"

Even though they'd clog his heightened sense of smell?

"Of course, demon," he agreed with a sigh. "Of course."

* * *

 **So, it's been a bit, guys, I know. Which is why you got this super long monstrosity. It actually was originally part of some of the things that I'd begun back this past October and never finished, hence why the beginning was more focused on that. I'm not sure what the original plan was with this one, but I liked where it ended up now and I guess in some ways, that's all that matters.**

 **I know I've been gone for a bit, but I've actually had a lot going on. I haven't forgotten and ditched Fairy Tail. Still very much Thunder Strauss Tribe. Trust me. But I was pretty busy the past year or so and then, when I started to try and get back into writing for them, I had a death in November that sent me backwards a bit. Then this February I had an even bigger death that fucked everything to shit, but I really wanna get back into the swing of all this. No promises, but if there's anyone else still out there interested in Miraxus, Bixanna, Elfever, and just them all being great together, I'm definitely still on board.**


End file.
